Author: Walter Isaacson

The second book in my ’12 books for 2012’ is the biography of Steve Jobs. I first saw this on my partners desk at work and he had received it as a present. It was one of those books that I started to flick through and just could not put down. I came to be a devotee of Apple’s products and therefore Steve Jobs design ideas abit late and only started using Apple products extensively around 4 years ago.

Since then I have embraced the simplicity and fantastic integration of the product range as a whole. I just seem to get the ideas that he was trying to put across. The book is a fantastic insight into this guys life. He was often a horrible man by the sound of things and the book has been written in an entirely balanced way, infact Isaacson would only have it that way and Jobs didn’t read the book before he died.

Isaacson was given unfettered access to anyone he wanted and infact people were encouraged by Jobs to speak to him to tell the truth about how things were.

The overriding theme of the book is the Steve Jobs  “reality distortion field” where he was able to just create his own reality and chop and change decisions, moods or ideas whenever he felt like it. It is, though, a stunning story of how 1 indiviudal can form a huge (the biggest) company and bend it to his will by sheer belief and force of ideas.

It seems that he was a pretty horrible guy but there is no doubt that he was a genius and someone who completely changed how we interact, not only just with computers but also with each other socially. One of Job’s sayings was “ come with me and make a dent in the universe” infact when he as trying to employ Sculley the then marketing director at pepsi co, he said to him “do you want to make a dent in the universe or do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life?”

After reading the book, your overwhelming sense is sadness that he his gone and that he wont create anything else.

I, for one, think that Apple will never be the same now that he is gone. I don’t belive anybody else will be as maverick or as quite prepared to “bet the whole farm” on an idea or risk and I think they will be a lesser company because of that.

This year, Campbell and Peace are aiming to raise as much money as possible for the Karen Green Foundation. To kick start the campaign we are aiming to bring in the first £1000 through our Facebook page; for every new page “Like” we get we will donate £1 until we reach our target. Please click here and “Like” our page, and help us to help The Karen Green Foundation:

• Raise money for Leukaemia Charities and Hospitals treating patients who are suffering with Leukaemia and other cancers of the blood
• Relieve those persons with Leukaemia, their families and carers
• Provide grant funding on an annual basis to one or more para-athletes to help them achieve their sporting goals

Visit the Karen Green website to read all about the great work the Foundation are doing, how you can help raise money or to make a donation.

So it goes like this…. I get a Facebook message from my friend Stuart (one of the dads at school) who has come on board with this ’12 films for 2012’ thing.

He informs me that they are re-releasing all of the Star Wars films in 3D starting with The Phantom Menace. Now, I have never seen the ‘first 3’ Star Wars films or is that the last 3? I never quite know how to explain them! But episode 1 with Ewan McGregor amongst others has been something I have wanted to see for years.

During my enforced ‘cinema break’ due to having 3 young children, I was unable to go and see many of the films that I would normally have loved to see so it was a real pleasure to be able to see this for the first time on the big screen. We went to see it armed with our usual bag of chocolate treats (don’t tell my wife!) and 3D glasses. We sat down to experience a fantastic cinematic experience. George Lucas has just created an entire other universe. In 3D with the scenes of spaceship flying around over your head, it is quite stunning. I am so pleased that I got to see this on full screen and so pleased that we decided to make this the February film.

I am sure that many of the people who read this (if anybody reads it) will have already seen this film, but if you haven’t, go and see it, it is totally mesmerizing and stunning. I even spoke to my mum today on the phone about it and she has decided that she wants to see it!

Enjoy

Author – Derek Sivers

Title – Anything you want

I came across this book on recommendation through Amazon where they recommend books based on what other people bought who bought your book.

I think I had purchased The long tail by Chris Anderson and this book was recommended. I bought it on a whim as it was inexpensive and relatively short.

It is a lovely story about a guy who is a musician and who was never interested in having a big company or making loads of money but decide in the late 90’s to try and sell his albums online because no one else would sell them for him. The little business he set up became CD Baby and ultimately he sold it for 2 million dollars. The best part of that story is that he placed all of the money into a charitable trust ,which now funds underprivileged children to get into music. He takes a small income from this and now works on other projects. He seems to have a great attitude to life.

It is quite an uplifting, interesting and sometimes really funny book and I would recommend it to anybody who has an interest in the music industry, any form of business or anyone who just wants to hear a story about someone who is not massively commercially obsessed.

Artist – Admiral Fallow

Album – Boots met my face

On New Years Eve 2011, I was sat in Scotland with my Dad watching “traditional” Scottish New Year on television. They have the standard programme which has a guy playing the bagpipes and various Scottish traditional music acts. It was just nice to be watching this, with my Dad and spending some quality time with him as everybody else had gone to bed.

In the middle of this, they introduced a young Scottish band who they said were making a lot of noise, both in Scotland and the United States, called Admiral Fallow. They played a single track on the show and it was so good that half way through I downloaded the album onto my iPhone (this impressed my father enormously and even more so when I told him that it was already synced to all of my computers at home!)

The album is fantastic, particularly if you like the sound of “man plays the guitar and sings”. It is very different and unusual particularly because the Scottish accent is quite strong.

My favourite song from the album is called ‘Squealing Pigs’ so if you wanted to start somewhere with this band you could download this song and if you like it, the rest of the album is very similar. This is the first album of a new band that I have listened to in 2012 and it is terrific. Thoroughly recommended.

A little while ago, through a connection from the Triathlon scene in Nottingham, I was introduced to Mick Green.

Mick owns a bike shop called Langdale Lightweights, which was set up by his father many years ago. It is an astonishing place. An Aladdin’s cave for cyclists. It is the place you go to have a bike made and fitted specifically to your standards by someone who takes enormous amounts of pride in his work. It is a place where people make things and try to make them right and make them last. They don’t let things leave the shop until they think it’s absolutely right. On one occasion, I went with my dad when he was down from Scotland for a preliminary fitting for a time trial bike and we were there for 3 hours.

I have not met Mick many times and only as a customer but then found out from the contact that introduced us that Mick’s wife was terminally ill, having suffered for some years with Leukemia. Soon after I found this out, Mick’s wife Karen died, leaving Mick to run his bike shop and look after his 2 young daughters.

People die all the time, my wife is a children’s cancer nurse who looks after children who are terminally ill. I didn’t know Mick particularly well, having only met him a few times but something really affected me in the death of his wife and I think its because I could really relate to his situation.

My life is hellish busy, I do loads of different things and I am really lucky but I could not imagine even trying to survive my life without my wife being around. I am trying to run 2 businesses, be a dad to 3 kids (and a dog) and do many other things besides but I could not survive without my wife, God knows how Mick can manage.

I was therefore astonished to get a phone call in September last year from the same contact that introduced us (Steve Lloyd of Absolute Triathlon) telling me that Mick planned to set up a foundation in honour of his wife and to race in the Outlaw Iron Man Triathlon in Nottingham. Foolishly I agreed to become involved in the Outlaw project and said that I would compete in the race. Although this is an ambition of mine, it was too early, too soon and I have subsequently reduced my ambitions back to being part of a relay team and doing the 112-mile bike leg.

Further to this, I have agreed to be a trustee of the Karen Green Foundation. We are now planning on launching the foundation this month.

The plan is to raise funds for sufferers of Leukemia and other blood borne diseases and their families and also to help para athletes to realise their dreams, as this was something that would have been close to Karen’s heart.

As the blog posts continue, I will tell you more about the Karen Green Foundation and our project towards the Outlaw in Nottingham, where we hope to have between 30 and 40 individuals or relay teams competing.

Please watch this space and read on whenever you see a post.

I went to see this in January with my friend Stuart Reekie on his recommendation. It had been a long time since I had been to see an action film particularly at the cinema but I really enjoyed it as a break from the norm. It had an all-star cast including Ewan McGregor, Antonio Bandares and Michael Douglas along with a gorgeous girl who is fantastic at martial arts.

It was generally quite a detailed story with a real twist at the end and loads of action. It is probably too late to catch it at the cinema but if you get the chance to see it on DVD and you like action films, it’s a good one to watch

I have expressed my opinions about the ITI clearly in my previous blog posts and I think that it is a fantastic organisation Worldwide.

The ITI Worldwide recently broke through the 11,000 members barrier and continues to grow at approximately 300 new members per month.

The UK and Ireland Section has been a “beacon” section for the organisation in recent years and with this in mind has been recognised with the honour of hosting the ITI Worldwide AGM in London in September 2012.

This is to be held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London and will involve 3 days of meetings and networking along with a scientific programme.

The scientific meeting – details of which will be published soon – will have some big name speakers in the middle of London during the Paralympics. This is a fantastic opportunity to get to London for some CPD on a Saturday and to also take in some other sites.

The scientific meeting will be free for fellows and a small nominal charge will be made for members to attend.

I would encourage anyone involved in the ITI to attend the AGM and if you are not involved in the ITI, I would suggest you join.

I am setting up a new implant service at one of my practices. This is the practice where we provide NHS oral surgery and orthodontics but we have now decided to enter into the field of dental implants.

I feel very much like I am back in 1998 when I was starting the oral surgery and implant service at Kirk Hallam Dental Practice in Ilkeston.

Our first patient is booked for 2 weeks time and I have staff there who are absolutely fantastic, but have never done implant dentistry before. Obviously this time I have a bit of an advantage as I have now placed approximately 3000 implants and I can call upon other members of staff who have worked with me placing implants for a long time. It is still quite a daunting position to be at case number 1 in a new service, trying to get everything right and hoping things will be done just so.

As we started to set this service up, it made me remember that the clinical aspect of placing dental implants is perhaps the easy bit to people starting out. The most difficult part of setting up an implant service is the logistics.

Making sure you have the right pieces of equipment, the right personnel and the right systems in place to do the treatment properly is the hardest part. This is the part that falls to pieces when you are concentrating on the clinical bit and don’t have time to do the rest.

The logistics in an implant service is perhaps the most important part because if you open a patient up to put an implant in and don’t have the correct equipment it is a disaster. It is one of the reasons I initially chose to work with Straumann to provide my dental implants because the back-up from the company is so good that it makes the logistical element as easy as possible.

If you are setting up an implant service at the moment, give me a shout and lets trade ideas. I have done it once before but am now back in the middle doing at another practice and it is very exciting, if a little bit daunting.

This was a gift given to us by a friend of mine who I had helped with some implant work in Scotland and we were able to go and stay over and really spoil ourselves. I have been to this place once before and was amazed that it is situated in Nottingham underneath the motorway bridge with a pylon in the back garden! When you drive up to somewhere like that you don’t really expect it to be one of the most fantastic places you have ever eaten at.

The place is Sat Bains Restaurant with rooms in Nottingham and it is a truly amazing experience all round. When we were checking out the next morning, we were chatting to one of the waiters who had served us the night before. It was then that he explained to us that Sat and his team had been awarded their 2^nd Michelin Star in November 2011. He talked us through the process of how people come to inspect the restaurant (a bit CQC-ish) and at the end of the inspection they hand over an envelope where everybody expected that they would be confirmed as still having their Michelin Star. It came as a huge surprise to them all, to find out that they had been upgraded to 2 Michelin stars and I’m sure quite a party was had after that!

My main point, however, is that the place that Sat Bains is situated is not the place you would expect one of the finest restaurants in the United Kingdom to be.

Every business, practice or institution is up against something that makes it imperfect. Either its location, internal anatomy or any number of other things.

Just because that thing isn’t ideal doesn’t mean everything else can’t be perfect and I guess what we do at our practice is to get the bits perfect that we can control.

I am talking about ‘Controlling the controllables’ as Sir Chris Hoy says when he is training for the Olympics.